Launching device for aeroplanes.



E. WILSON. LAUNOHING DEVICE FOB AEROPLANES.

APPLIUATIOK FILED snm. 24, 1910.

Patented Apr. 4, 1911.

E. WILSON.

LAUNGHING DEVICE FOB ABBOPLANES.

ArrLloA'rIon FILED s211124. mo.

988,61 1 I Patented Apr.4, 1911.

- 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT oFFIoE.

EDWIN WILSON, or LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS, AssIGNon or ONE-HALF ro JACOB BoYLE,

" or' LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS.

LAUNCHING DEVICE FOR AEROPLANES. l l

specificati@ ofLettersratent.

Patented Apr. 4, 1911.

Application filed September 24, 1910. Serial No. 583,575. l

Thls lnvention relates to the launching or.

starting of aeroplanes, and its object is to provide a device for launching aeroplanes from a `space of small area where it is i m possible for the machine to run any considerable distance before leaving the ground.

Thestarting or launching of aeroplanes fromirest by their own motive power as at present practiced, necessitates a.' runway of considerable length, whether the 4machines be started on wheels or on skids, before sufficient speed is attained to enable the machine lto rise from the ground. For this reason it has been necessary hitherto to start the machine from open elds of considerable eX- tent,` and lit has hitherto been impracticable to launch them from such small spaces as the deck of a ship, or other starting points of small or closely confined area.

With the present invention an aeroplane may be launched into the air almost at once from rest, and either without the necessity of any runway, or with a runway so short 'as to be practicable in spaces heretofore too short or conned to serve as the starting point of an aeroplane.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate oneI embodiment of my invention,-Figure 1 is a side elevation of a launching device embodying my invention in one form and showing its relation to the aeroplane; Fig. 2v is a plan view of the launchin device and aeroplane shown in IFig. 1; Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail in sec 'tion showing the cushion used in the telescoping pusher hereinafter described; and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail in section, illustrating the swivel joint between the pushers and the fluid Supply pipe.

As the invention is applicable to use in connection with aeroplanes generally, irre- Spective of the particular type or structural details thereof, I have shown the aeroplane in diagrammatic or conventional form, without entering into details, using for 1llustration the type known as the bi lane, indicated generally by the reference ettcr A.

The launching device consists of one or more pushers (I have shown herein a pair of pushers), each comprisin telescoping memers, preferably in the orm of a cylinder Amember a, and a piston member b. The rear ends of the rear members, herein shownas `the cylinder members a, are connected by a Icross head a', which is pivotally supported y 1n a frame C, which 'maybe erected on the ground, on a ships deck, or wherever the device is to be used, and constitutes a stationary and rigid abutment to'receive the thrust oft-he rear members when the device is operated as presently to be described.

D represents a reservoir adapted to contain a fluid under pressure, such as compressed air or other gas or Huid. The reservoir communicateswvith the cross head a', and thence with the cylinders a, by a piped 1n which is a control valve d. The two- 'branch or T-shaped end a2 of the pipe d' forms a swivel joint with pipe a as shown in detail in Fig. 4, to permit the pipe a to rotate when the telescoping members a and I) are' swung in 'a vertical plane.` The forward ends of the forward members, herein shown as the piston members, engage the frame of the aeroplane, and to prevent their slipping out of position, the frame of the machine is preferably provided with socket pieces e to receive the ends of the forward members b. 4

When the machine is at rest in front of the launching device as shown in the drawings, and before the device has been operated, the telescoping members are shortened or contracted, with the piston members b thrust inward substantially tothe bases of the cylinder members. If now the valve d be opened, the reservoir D having previously been charged with compressed air or other fluid or gas under pressure, the fluid or gas under pressure is admitted to the cylinder members a, forcibly extending the same and driving the aeroplane forward. It will also be observed that the pushers are inclined slightly upward thereby tending to push the aeroplane upward as well as forward. The pressure in reservoir D should lbe high enough to impart to the aeroplane a push sufficiently forcible to causev it to leave the ground as soon as, or approximately las soon as, the stroke of the launch-- ing device is completed, after which the plston members b will pull out of the sockets c and the machine will leave the pushers and be propelled by its own motive power. To

prevent too abrupt a startthe valve d may,

be opened gradually, and the opening of the valve. and consequently thel force of the expandlng Huid, may be increased to the end of the stroke of the piston members, thus i giving the aeroplane its maximum push during the last part of the stroke. To relieve i the shock upon the launching device` which i would otherwise result when the forward members Z1 reach the end or' their stroke, a E cushion spring s maybe inserted in the ends of the cylinder members (see Fig. 3) yield- .f

ingly to check the pistons b at the end of their stroke.

In the referred construction I provide a pair of te escopmg pushers as herein shown M to engage the aeroplane at either side of its central axis, since by this arrangement a 3 more evenly distributed and equally balanced push may be applied to the aeroplane than if a single pusher were used, rendering less likely the lateral turning or crampingy f of t-he aeroplane or' the cramping of the telescoping members. The invention is not limited, however, to any particular number t When more than one pusher is.

of pushers. used, as showrinthe drawings, itfisdesirable that all be actuated by pressure through asingle pipe so that by manipulatin a single cont-rol valve in the common supp y pipe,

all the pushers will not only be operated simultaneousl but with equal force, all being actuated by identical pressure. The

4 pivotal mounting of the pushers in their abutment permits the movement thereof in a vertical plane to acconnnodate them to any movement of the aeroplane 1n a vertical and balanced push upon the aeroplane at either side of its center.

2. A launching device for aeroplanes comprising a pair of pushers adapted to engage an aeroplane at either side of its central axis, each pusher comprising telescop, ing cylinder and piston members, a reser-v` a. single pipe connecting the reservoir with the cylinder member of each pair, a valve in f said pipe to control the delivery of the fluid i to said cylinder members, whereby both ment-to receive the thrust 'of the rear members of said pushers, the forward members of said pushers adapted to push the aeroplane forward.

` Signed by me at Boston, Massachusetts,

f this 16th day of September, 1910.

i l EDWIN WILSON. IVtnesses:

ROBERT CUSHMAN, CHARLES D. WooDBEnRY.

eis adapted to exert :t2-substantially equalV voir adapted to contain fluid under pressure,

pushers will be actuated"simultaneously by -..identical pressure, -.and a. stationary 'abut- 

